An always-on-top desktop clock for Windows 11

Built-in option: Show seconds in the taskbar clock

If you only need more precision, Windows 11 can show seconds. Go to Settings > Time & language > Date & time, expand Show time and date in the System tray and turn on Show seconds in system tray clock (on Windows 11 versions before 24H2, it's under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors). The clock is still small and still on the taskbar, but it costs nothing.

Our option: Solace Clock, a packaged build with support

Solace Clock is a borderless, always-on-top desktop clock, packaged as a small Windows ZIP with SolaceSoftware support. We tested it on Windows 11 and gave it 9/10 for ease: unzip, run, and the clock appears. Everything is on the right-click menu.

Step 1: Unzip and run

The download is about 1.3 MB. It needs .NET Framework 4.8.1, which is built into current Windows 11, and no admin rights (ours ran as a standard user). It's unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn you on first launch. Check the SHA-256 on the product page first.

Step 2: Turn on Always on top

Right-click the clock and open Settings. Ticking always on top keeps it above your other windows, and we confirmed the setting switches both ways. Note that there's no "pin behind windows / to the desktop" mode. With always-on-top off, it's simply a normal window.

Step 3: Put it where you want it

It's a borderless readout you drag anywhere, onto a second monitor or into a corner. Use the size slider in the right-click menu to make it as big as you need.

Step 4: Pick a format

There are nine presets with live examples: time, 24-hour, with seconds, with the weekday, date and time, full, date only, sortable and ISO week. There's also a custom format box with a live preview. Choosing "Time (24-hour)" switched our clock straight to HH:mm.

Step 5 (optional): Time zones and a second clock

Choose from a 141-entry time-zone list. Setting Tokyo showed 05:48 when it was 14:48 in Denver, which is correct. That setting replaces the clock's zone, so for local time plus another city, use New clock in Settings to add a second clock.

Step 6 (optional): Countdown mode

Count down to midnight, tomorrow morning, Friday afternoon, New Year or a custom date. With "New Year" selected, our clock read "in 2 months". Heads-up: Play sound when countdown ends is on by default, but no sound file is set, so the clock stays silent until you pick a WAV file in Settings > Alerts.

Make it look right

Theme presets include System, Accent, Smoke, Terminal, Midnight, Paper, Minimal and Chalk. You can also set your own font, weight, colors, opacity, corner radius and outline. "Terminal" gave us cyan text on black.

Privacy and cleanup

• No network calls: we monitored it from launch to exit and saw zero connections. There's no account.
• Settings live in %AppData%\Solace Clock. The docs describe a portable mode (a settings file next to the app), which we didn't test.
• Start with Windows is off by default. Turning it on adds a per-user startup entry, and turning it off removed it cleanly in our test.

Which should you choose?

• You just want seconds: use the taskbar setting. It's free.
• You want a clean, borderless, always-on-top clock, ready to run, with support from us: Solace Clock.

Get Solace Clock

Solace Clock: always-on-top desktop clock for Windows, $18.39 one-time →

You get 12 months of support and a 14-day refund if the package can't start its core check.